Hi all, I have few questions related to Daily pooja queries. I am working women but still I would make sure to spend atleast a moment before the god. My question is 1) do we need to clean the diya daily and change the wick?(or can we use the already used one). I usually change water(Panchapatra and udharini) daily and put some fruit or nuts near god, put a 2 diyas each with 2 wicks, 1 incense stick. 2)Also sometimes i buy flowers and decorate god, should we remove the flowers next day as they will be very fresh and sometimes almost for 3-4 days. I feel sorry to remove such fresh flowers. At times when I am very busy or during periods I feel real guilty as I could not do all that stuff and they remain dried. 3)How often do you clean your gods frame?, as I apply the kumkum once and I dont clean them almost for 2 weeks or during festivals. Do we need to clean frames every day and put kumkum daily. I went through previous forum posts related to lighting diyas but no one mentioned any thing about fresh flowers or fresh wicks each time you lit the lamps. 4) can we use the ghee made out of the butter from the american stores as I am not sure if it is very pure, I know in india they use Cow ghee but I am not sure what kind of butter they sell. Sesemee oil is very expensive. I want to use any cheaper oil like vegetable oil or canon oil. 5) where would you throw all the trash from the god like dried flowers, wicks, sometimes akshatha. I am worried to throw in trash but here in usa it is difficult. any ideas. thanks Nidhi
Hello friend, What u r doing is correct. Using cow ghee is primary.(Uthama) sesame oil is secondary ( Madhyama) other oils n buffalo ghee are ( athama) U can put Nirmalyam(trash) in the plants, in ur house. That is what I did in USA. Some people clean the frames, & put the kumkum once a week like, friday, thursday, saturday, monday. like that some people do on the nextday of amavasya. so that comes monthly once. some people do daily for silver, brass idols. I don't know correctly abt diyas. Wicks definitely we have to change daily. Water daily fresh water is compulsory. use 2 incecse sticks instead of using one. this is the information, I am sharing with u.& I do the the same. Lets see what other people says... Suneeta
Hi Nidhi I am also a working woman. I follow as follows - 1. I use clean diya everyday and chage wick daily too. I change water along with it. 2. I dont use flowers daily as I have to walk a lot to buy flowers after coming from office...Iuse flowers when I get them or during festival times...Try to use fresh flowers.....Remove old flowers as its bad as per vaastu. 3. I clean God's frame in once a week or before festivals. It depends whether you have time to do this everyday... 4. Here we get lamp oil in temples/grocery store. I use both ghee and lamp oil at home....Use whatever you have...Cow's ghee is the best...You can check some old posts...There someone mentioned that different oils to be used for different deities or purpose...lamp oil is a mix of 5 oils....You can use whatever is available for you... 5.I use dry flowers in pots at home. Other thing I have to throw in dustbin....
Dear... What usually they say is cleaning diya daily is not good.. but the older posts says that they have to clean daily.. now i got confused. i used to change the wick during the poojas. ( ido poojas friday thursday and tuesday) i take flowers next day itself.. shall i add few more questions here.... i do poojas in friday as well as in saurday.. i clean all pooja utensils on thursday night itself wipe it.. i mob the whole house in friday morning... the next day i do vardh for balaji ... do i have to clean all things once again and should i mob once again the hme (i sprinkle turmeric water on saturday)
Nidhi, Do what is best for you. Oe thing, don't leave the lighted lap and leave the house. I live in California ( earth quack Zone) and I do it only for a minute. Regarding ghee, why do you think American Ghee is not pure. God will take anything you offer. It looks like that you don't want to spend money on Sesame Oil. I can understand it. Do whatever you can and possible to do. God does not ask you to spend money on HIM/HER. Cleaning the puja place, it is up to you. Have faith in almighty and be nice to people. Some of you may not like my advice. But think about it. We don't have help in this country. We can't just leave the house and go. We need to do all the work before you leave. So whatever is possible, do it. I do it for past 31 years with my simple pujai. It makes me happy and satisfied. Good day. CL
I read all replies and I feel that the wick can be changed when it needs to , same for the oil whichever oil you get try to light. It's god who gives you the availability of the oil so no harm , it's the heart which is concerned. Regarding the cleaning of photos, do it on tow conditions that is when you have time or they show signs of a change. Flowers however fresh they may look you have to change and throw the nirmaalyam in the pit or in a pot or in the garden where no one stamps. Cleaning the pooja vessel either after the pooja or the day before the pooja is essential like the mopping of the place before pooja, you can keep them ready the previous day itself. Doing abhishekam or cleaning the Idols , vigrahams should not be done on tuesdays and Fridays. As my friend suggested never leave the house with the lighted lamp in the pooja you have to put it off by using a flower or milk or pull the wick inside so that it automatically goes off . Adding a pinch of ghee to the oil is vishesam. Wipe the lamp if it's oily or the black wicks remnants are seen. If you have the vigraham of Goddess Annapurani, place her on a cup full of rice and keep changing the rice once in 15 days or during amavasya. Whatever Vigraham of any goddesses you have never leave them without any vasthram. If you have a Sitting Goddess lakshmi, place the photo to the bottom most point from the floor, the higher She is, the unreachable your finances will be. Do not do pooja for Standing Lakshmi as she symbolizes any time to leave your place.
